In memory of Marcia J. Powell and all those prisoners who have suffered or died in the custody of the state.

The 'Friends of Marcia Powell' are autonomous groups and individuals engaging in prisoner outreach, informal advocacy, and organized protest and direct actions in a sustained campaign to: promote prisoner rights and welfare in America; engage the Arizona public in a creative and thoughtful critique of our system of "justice;” deconstruct the prison industrial complex; and dismantle this racist, classist patriarchy...

Retiring "Free Marcia Powell"

As of December 2, 2010 (with occasional exceptions) I'm retiring this blog to direct more of my time and energy into prisoner rights and my other blogs; I just can't do anyone justice when spread so thin. I'll keep the site open so folks can search the archives and use the links, but won't be updating it with new posts. If you're looking for the latest, try Arizona Prison Watch. Most of the pieces posted here were cross-posted to one or both of those sites already.

Thanks for visiting. Peace out - Peg.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

URGENT: Mississippi DOC and Jamie Scott

Hey All: This just came in. I just left a message on the medical director's line from AZ Prison Watch/myself asserting Jamie's right to medical care and insisting that she be transferred to a hospital immediately. We will be following up. Please call in, as indicated below. Will work on the media, too. Can use help today.

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David Hope Rosser sent a message to the members of Free The Scott Sisters.

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Subject: BRAND NEW INFO - 1/20 JAMIE SCOTT UPDATE!

The prison chaplain arranged for Jamie to call Mrs. Rasco today and in that phone call Jamie confirmed that both of her kidneys have shut down and that she is in the prison ICU. She told her mother that she will be taken to the hospital sometime next week to have a procedure performed so that she can begin dialysis. She did not know why this is being delayed and neither does the family!

Jamie is grateful for all of the supporters who have called into the prison but wants us to ask folks to discontinue the phone calls. It's being stressed to Jamie that callers who yell and cuss are upsetting the officials there.

Jamie Scott, at age 38, has aged tremendously since her 15+ years of unjust incarceration and now suffers from severe medical problems which have led to her kidneys shutting down. She needs immediate hospitalization for treatment, proper diagnoses and pain relief. Jamie also has mental health needs which need to be evaluated and treated, as well! WE FEEL STRONGLY THAT TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE. Jamie Scott is inmate #19197 at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility and she is being treated by Dr. Gloria Perry at (601) 359-5515.

We've just been advised by our legal support to keep the pressure on the prison and not to let up one bit! Despite the prison's manipulation of Jamie, we must continue to act and not stop. So keep those calls coming in, we must get Jamie out of there ASAP. We are making moveson many other fronts to make that happen an...d this is a very integral part.

DON'T CURSE OR YELL INTO THE PHONE. STATE PLAINLY AND CLEARLY THAT WE WANT JAMIE MOVED OUT OF THE PRISON AND INTO A HOSPITAL WITHOUT FURTHER DELAY, THIS IS CRUCIAL! JAMIE SCOTT, #19197, MUST BE TAKEN TO THE HOSPITAL IMMEDIATELY!

Her physical and mental state require the highest levels of professional care.

AZ Police State

STOP FASCISM HERE!!! FIGHT SB 1070!

We Are Everywhere...

Decided to plant this in here with a widget as a permanent reminder to those out there struggling through life that we need you here. All the injustice, grief, and human suffering calls for us to stay and do everything we can about it while we're here. Don't give up the fight - your last shred of hope may just keep someone else alive, too.

Survival Guide for Earth Liberation Activists

Street Arts & Buskers Advocates

ON DIRECT ACTIONS, CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE, ETC.

Taking a cue from the animal rights activists (who usually don't even put their names and faces on their sites), I thought I should clarify a few things here.

The Friends of Marcia Powell and freemarciapowell.blogspot.com are not very organized, nor are we affiliated or associated with any other group or organization. We all just crash each other's protests to show solidarity. Me (Peg) - I'm just winging this stuff.

The information and ideas provided on this website are not meant to incite illegal actions or activities, even if it looks like that may be what we're doing. That's not to say we frown on civil disobedience; there's an important place in history for diverse tactics of resistance. We are each only responsible for our own actions, though.

The point is for folks to get involved in the 2010 political campaigns and challenge the BS around the prison industrial complex, but please be creative enough that no one gets hurt or arrested (well, a few lawmen and makers need to be indicted and disarmed, still, but we don't want any more of our friends getting into trouble.)

Do be advised: these are not nice people we're picking fights with, they far outgun us, they make all the rules, the game is already rigged, and if you piss the wrong person off bad enough in this state, you don't even need to break a law to go to jail or prison.

In any case, make sure you have the number you'll need to call for help from jail written on your arm if you think you might get arrested. Live on the buddy system (keep an eye on each other for awhile and check the jail if anyone goes missing). Don't let things you're responsible for drag anyone else down; keep your loose ends neat.

Don't rat out your comrades, and don't automatically believe it if someone says that someone you trust ratted out you first. That's a classic tactic. So is trying to make you think that something perfectly legal you did is a crime. Just because it's secret doesn't mean it's criminal or shouldn't be protected.

Be true to yourself and the cause regardless.

If you have any questions about the legality of any direct action you are considering, we encourage everyone receiving this (or the) action alert(s) to check your local laws and ordinances and think about the possible consequences before proceeding to do anything. Not that you'd be on your own, but most of us are too poor to bail you out, and too politically disenfranchised to otherwise wrest you free.

July 29, 2010. Cesar Chavez Plaza/Wells Fargo, Phoenix.

Advocacy for women in Florida prisons

American Civil Liberties Union

National Prison Project Report

Mental Illness In Prison

Ill-Equipped: US Prisoners and Offenders with Mental Illness

Death by Incarceration

US DOJ Bureau of Justice Statistics: 2001-2006 Prison Deaths (pdf)

Gerlad & Maas' Nights Lantern

Excellent resource by our neighbors to the North on Human Rights, Political Prisoners, and the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.